The Alpha Review
By Andrew Uys
I’ve heard that trade paperbacks — a run of comic issues collected into a graphic novel — are all the rage today. But which ones are worth your time? This column aims to put the spotlight on the spectacular trades— at least according to this writer. And just for fun, we will start with the letter “A,” and each subsequent review will follow with the next letter of the alphabet. While you might object to my taste or my opinion, I hope that this column will help save you time and money when you are next buying a trade paperback, as well as effort in alphabetizing.
I is for Infinite Crisis
Written by Geoff Johns
Art by Phil Jimenez, George Perez, Jerry Ordway, and Ivan Reis
DC, 2005/06
The big event for DC this summer is Final Crisis, which wraps up the storyline started in Infinite Crisis and can trace its roots to Crisis on Infinite Earths from the 80s. Infinite Crisis consists of a seven-part series, which, in turn, launched the weekly 52 series and the recently-completed Countdown to Infinite Crisis. To understand this TPB, we need to look back to Crisis on Infinite Earths, DC’s attempt in 1985 to improve their universe’s continuity.
Early in the Silver Age, DC introduced the idea that there were separate earths or realities for each of their major teams, the Justice Society and Justice League of America. The number of these worlds increased as more companies were bought out by DC and their characters incorporated into DC’s mythos. There was a complex numbering system used to delineate each reality, and the characters started to jump between worlds, teaming up with their alternate earth counterparts. As readership fell in the 80s, DC sought to resolve the problems of continuity and character relationships with a massive crossover event that would hopefully draw in new readers and satisfy long-term fan concerns. So, during the course of Crisis on Infinite Earths, the different realities were destroyed and merged to create a single Earth where the main heroes existed together with a shared history. Most of the company’s main titles were rebooted, and for many of us this was the DC universe with which we grew up. However, small problems still existed, and, over the course of two decades, more have emerged.
Enter Infinite Crisis.
Infinite Crisis, which followed the same format as Crisis on Infinite Earths, had events which played out through all of DC’s titles. Through it, DC sought to meaningfully rewrite Crisis on Infinite Earths, rather than changing it into a simple retcon (retroactive continuity). The series has since become a classic and set into motion a larger story that will see its third act played out in Final Crisis.
Before Infinite Crisis, DC published Identity Crisis, a smaller and arguably better-written series that fractured relationships between the heroes of DC and began stories that would lead into this collection. In a previous review, I discussed Marvel’s House of M and why I didn’t like the crossover/mega-event; the movement from Identity Crisis to Infinite Crisis is how a cross-title, reality-shattering and continuity-altering storyline should be done. After the events in Identity Crisis, which I also recommend you pick up, there came The OMAC Project, Rann-Thanagar War, Day of Vengeance, and Villains United. Each one explored a certain aspect of the DC universe and neatly expanded on some of its subplots; however, they are often less explored. All of these storylines set the tone and structure for the “world” as the Infinite Crisis began with the return of Earth-2 Superman and Earth-Prime Superboy.
Confused?
These were characters who had acted valiantly to save the universe during the Crisis on Infinite Earths, and who then headed off to their reward, a peaceful, heaven-like limbo. Apparently though, they had been watching the DC universe and had grown dissatisfied with the moral ambiguity and fractured relationships of our heroes. Their end goal was to shape a new, perfect earth where the horrors inflicted on and caused by our heroes had never happened. This plan required the reemergence of the multiple earths, and soon our heroes were fighting a war on many fronts, as set up by the mini-series leading into this mega-event. Again, heroes fell, loose ends were tied up, and at the end of the story there was one world with a slightly altered history. In sum, a retcon was created without just saying, “It’s all different now.” This is where weekly series such as 52 and Countdown come into the picture, and while I cannot go into them in great detail, it is suffice to say that all is not what it seems at the end of Infinite Crisis.
Infinite Crisis is a fantastic read that can be read apart from all the crossover titles that it impacted. If you are trying to follow DC’s big event this summer, it is required reading. The story contains most of the major characters from DC, and a few of the characters who died during the story remain dead today! The writing and art are superb and remarkably consistent considering the number of contributing illustrators. Much of what has happened in the DC universe in the last two years stems from this storyline. Though a little dense and confusing at times, it is a fun read that contains real and lasting changes both to the characters and to the world that they inhabit.
